Weed Vending Machine Spells Higher Times Ahead For Colorado
Colorado’s great pot experiment is about to involve an old staple in American culture: the vending machine. American Green has officially unveiled a weed vending machine designed for walk-up customer use in Vail, Colorado. NPR reports the self-serve machine — known as “the ZaZZZ” — will serve pot-infused snacks rather than the usual treats baked customers seek after smoking marijuana.
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According to reports, the vending machine will verify a customer’s age and identity using biometric technology already in place to ensure tobacco and other products are not sold to underage consumers. Only customers who may legally use medicinal marijuana will have the chance to stroll up to the machine and drop in money to receive a pot brownie or snack. Stores licensed to sell weed-infused goods would be allowed to showcase the ZaZZZ once it hits the market.
Customers worried about spoilage will be relieved to know the ZaZZZ sports climate-control features that ensure weed products won’t lose their freshness while waiting for a buyer to arrive. Vending machines of this kind that already exist have only been behind counters in the past, but the goal in either case is to cut down on shrinkage.
According to the NPR report, both store owners and manufacturers of weed-infused snacks are dealing with significant inventory loss. To cut back on employee theft and other goodies gone missing, designated “budtenders” will stock the vending machines and be solely accountable for the integrity of each transaction.
This failsafe process should make it easier for medicinal marijuana users to have access to pot-infused snacks at all times. Concerns over theft — as well as those awkward interactions between store clerks and buyers of pot brownies — should become a thing of the past in Colorado. The times have just gotten a little bit higher in the American West.
